Hello, all! I’ve been lurking the last few days, and wanted to chime in about a few things. If you’re in the know about UT, you can see by my name that I’m an alum, though my time at UT Austin was a long time ago. I have a lot of “hot sports opinions” about college and high school, probably because I am a college professor–though not at UT. I’ll tell our personal situation and then a few random thought about college.
My first daughter (graduated HS in 2016) was a top 11%-er, National Merit Commended, aerospace engineering listed as major. She was admitted in March of 2016, and yet, she went to Baylor. Why? Because she received a HUGE scholarship (full tuition) there. This scholarship, decided on by faculty, was the result of an interview, special campus program, and essay. My daughter was kind of a rainbow unicorn in her chosen major of engineering. Despite “only” having taken AP Physics (both classes) and Calc in terms of STEM, she did a ton of theatre and speech/debate in high school and is very outgoing and female. At Baylor, they recruit female engineering/comp sci students heavily. She has had a wonderful time at Baylor and received a lucrative job offer from her summer internship last year (2019). She has a guaranteed job when she graduates.
Skipping second child who is on his own path and fast forwarding to third child. This kiddo is also top 11%, but is pursuing a music degree. She auditioned on Jan. 18 after having passed the prescreen. Her SAT is a bit lower than her sister’s. We have no real read on if she’ll get into UT. Being a music kid, she is used to seemingly “arbitrary” auditions. She has already been accepted at several programs with academic and talent scholarships. I doubt she’ll get academic money at UT and I have no idea about their talent scholarships. We should know something by Mar. 1. But I DID get her into SRD dorm So she has a place to stay.
Friends, I’ve taught at UT Dallas and SMU as well as in the community college system. There are super colleges out there who are generous with money. You have to think about your end goal. Is it a prestigious name? That’s more impressive at the grad school level. For us (since we have four kids), finances are important. For in-state, UT is very affordable. I really hope future folks reading these forums consider the other great schools in Texas and even take a look at private schools. Often, they can be generous with merit aid, depending on the circumstances. As part of my current job, I teach several dual credit classes. When I hear about my students taking 5 AP/dual credit classes at the same time, I feel sad actually. They should be enjoying life a little while they still can and not stressing themselves out so much they are burned out before college even starts. Best of luck to everyone, and break a leg to all those performing arts majors out there. I don’t know if we’d actually accept at UT if she got in or not, but this Longhorn couple would certainly love it if she went to our alma mater.
I reread DD’s message from admissions and the word “defer” was not used. As you note, it is likely because she is Fine Arts. My mistake.
As far as I know, Engineering, Fine Arts, Architecture, Business and parts of Natural Sciences have a bit of control over their admissions at this point.
@boilerhorn Business does not. They select who gets in to BHP but not McCombs, that’s all university admissions. That’s why some people are selected for BHP interviews - meaning the folks at McCombs view them as highly qualified but they ultimately don’t get into the university.
We attended two separate panels last year and I met a wonderful coordinator at the business school who gave me a card and invited me to stay in touch, which I did and she was very helpful in terms of providing an overview of what university admissions would be looking for. She said that while they are able to tell admissions about what kind of leadership they wanted to see, the qualities that they wanted, but they had no choice in the matter of particular applicants. All my information is from both general admissions and the business school. None of it is speculation on my part.
Additionally, I should clarify, my son got in back in early December so I don’t know what the portals are saying. But when I talked to admissions and they gave me the overview of the process they said if he applied by November 1 for priority he would have an answer by Feb 1 whether it was “admission” “denial” or “deferral.” So when I say that’s the terminology UT is using I mean specifically the admissions representatives.
@OrangeJacket, Totally agree with you on all your points. Also secured a spot at SRD this week for our D20 in the very likely case that she chooses UT. Hate to risk losing the $ but love knowing that she has a place to live!
Do you think applying for honors allows the Department to understand in more details what the applicant has done in HS related to their major and major related ECs ?
Does that lead to better chance for consideration vs the the application only read and analyzed by General Admissions Office ?
It maybe related to the honor program you applied, or financial aid, etc. Click the “honors” tab, click “details” tab. My DS received status update email twice, and every time one of the item I listed above is updated.
Our OOS daughter was accepted into Electrical Engineering in December. We visited campus this weekend. We just realized that she has not applied for housing yet. Yikes! Assuming she doesn’t get into engineering honors (pretty tough) any idea how her odds are of getting on campus housing?
received Liberal Arts Honors Decision today. Can anyone describe this program in comparison to regular student? Are classes smaller? What are the benefits?
@sganny Not necessarily. Moody Honors are decided by the department but admissions is decided by the UT admissions office. Only a very small select group make it into the honors departments of any particular program so it’s not a given that even though she didn’t make it into honors she won’t gain admission at all.
Has any heard back from the Human Ecology honors? Mine still says in review…
I haven’t put down the housing deposit yet, do I still have a chance for getting housing if I do it soon?
Do you mean the application fee ($50?). I believe that amount is non-refundable but it does hold your “place in line”. My son put in his application for housing before he knew if he was accepted into his major or not (he was auto-accept by ranking). The amount you submit with a housing contract which was around $350 at the time my older son (now a senior at UT) was refundable but not if you ended up going to UT but decided to live somewhere else off campus.
I have a question for someone who has gone through housing before at UT. Based on internet research (that’s about all I’ve done so far), it looks like many of the private dorms are cheaper than on-campus housing? This surprises me, so I’m assuming I am wrong. Can anyone give me a little feedback? We’re going to Austin next week and I want to make sure we tour all the possible options.
So she has a place to stay.